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The Supreme Court reprimand of a civil litigation attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the Florida Department of Transportation comes after three separate cases included in a Florida Bar complaint.

Adam J. Ellis was fired after he received an email from FDOT General Counsel Tom Thomas dated Tuesday, the same day the Court released a discipline report of him and 27 other Florida attorneys.

"Your services as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel are no longer needed and you are being removed from your Selected Exempt Service position effective immediately," the email said.

The Supreme Court placed Ellis on a three-year probation after he pleaded no contest to assault and harassment charges in Oregon, according to a news release from the Florida Bar's Department of Lawyer Regulation.

When the Court reprimand was announced, the Florida Bar's website was undergoing maintenance, making the discipline documents unavailable.

Documents show Ellis reported to the Bar that in March 2010 he had been involved in a personal marital dispute that resulted in charges of assault constituting domestic violence and harassment in Portland, Oregon, which he pleaded no contest to.

Ellis was ordered to enroll in domestic violence intervention counseling, serve 48 hours of community service. Once completed, the charges were dropped by the State of Oregon, according to court records.

In his response, a filing by Ellis's attorney said he entered the no contest plea as a "'plea of convenience,' not as an admission of guilt."

"(Ellis) engaged in criminal misconduct that reflects adversely on his fitness as a member of the legal profession," the complaint states. Ellis denied having engaged in criminal conduct.

The Supreme Court reprimand is also related to a 2011 complaint against Ellis arising from an incident with an assistant state attorney in Pensacola.

While working as an assistant public defender in Pensacola, Ellis approached the woman at a Pensacola restaurant and showed her a photo shopped image of herself with an exposed genital organ outside her mouth, court records show.

He paraded around the room continuing to show the doctored photo to other attorneys as a "joke," court records say.

"Respondent engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice involving sexual harassment that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law," the complaint states.

The assistant state attorney filed a complaint with the Florida Bar following the incident after which Ellis wrote an apology letter.

Ellis' reply indicates his "conduct falls squarely within the protected speech guarantee by the First Amendment."

Also considered in the reprimand is a March 2012 arrest and charges of disturbing the peace after a noise complaint by his Escambia County neighbor. Ellis was terminated from the public defender's office after the arrest.

An ECSO deputy made contact with Ellis, who refused to turn down the music "challenging the deputy to go ahead and give him a citation," court records show.

The deputy returned when the neighbor called again and reported the music had been turned up louder than before and Ellis was arrested.

The case was not prosecuted after Ellis entered into a deferred prosecution agreement. His reply said he was illegally arrested.

Ellis in an email said the no contest plea was contingent on entering into a diversion program in which the charges against him would be dismissed.

"I entered a plea of no contest, not a plea of guilty, and I have always maintained my innocence regarding these charges," Ellis wrote.

Original story

An attorney in the Department of Transportation's office of general counsel, Adam J. Ellis, has been placed on probation by the Florida Supreme Court after he pleaded no contest to assault and harassment charges in Oregon, according to a news release from the Florida Bar.

Ellis, who conducts civil litigation for FDOT, was reprimanded along with 27 other Florida attorneys Tuesday and has been placed on probation for three years and is being publicly reprimanded.

"In two other instances, Ellis engaged in inappropriate behavior that showed lack of fitness and character as a member of the legal profession," the Bar wrote in its news release.